New Google CEO Sundar Pichai has only been in the job a few months, but he’s already doing that Silicon Valley thing that Apple CEO Tim Cook and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg have been doing: moral leadership.
Pichai, who came to the U.S. from India 22 years ago and is the architect of the dominant Chrome browser, wrote a moving post about the encroaching racism of American political discourse.
Pichai wrote, ” It’s so disheartening to see the intolerant discourse playing out in the news these days— statements that our country would be a better place without the voices, ideas and the contributions of certain groups of people, based solely on where they come from, or their religion.”
He doesn’t mention Donald Trump by name, but the post seems directed squarely at the fluffy-haired Republican presidential candidate, who has vexed everyone from Hillary Clinton to House Speaker Paul Ryan to Dick Cheney to Benjamin Netanyahu by calling for a ban on Muslims entering the United States.
Many have wondered whether to take Trump seriously, a hesitation Pichai appeared to share. “I debated whether to post this, because lately it seems that criticism of intolerance just gives more oxygen to this debate,” Pichai wrote.
Pichai wrote about his own experience being embraced in America as an Indian immigrant and wrote, “It’s been said a million times that America is the ‘land of opportunity’ — for millions of immigrants, it’s not an abstract notion, but a concrete description of what we find here. America provided access to opportunities that simply didn’t exist for many of us before we arrived. And it’s not just about opportunity. The open-mindedness, tolerance, and acceptance of new Americans are one of the country’s greatest strengths and most defining characteristics. And that is no coincidence — America, after all, was and is a country of immigrants.”
Pichai also mentioned the role of diversity at Google: “I walk around the campus where I work and see a vibrant mix of races and cultures. Every one of those people has a different voice … a different perspective … a different story to tell. All of that makes our company an exciting and special place to be, and allows us to do great things together.”
The idea to ban Muslims, which Trump calls “common sense,” has riled up many American leaders as an odious suggestion and spurred leaders of political and social activist groups to create the campaign #WeAreBetterThanThis.
Pichai’s post drew praise from many, including Google executive and former NASA Mars rover lead planner Scott Maxwell.
The more pragmatic fear about Trump’s rhetoric — and those who agree with it, which seems to be a large number of people — is that it will lead to increased hate and violence.
Hate crimes against Muslims — and those perceived as Muslims, which frequently includes Indians and particularly members of the Sikh religion who wear turbans — have been on the rise.
This year, for the first time, the FBI said it will add the category of “anti-Arab” to its yearly accounting of hate crimes. Of the over 1,000 incidents of religious hate crimes in 2014, Muslims were the second-highest target behind Jews, with 18% of the total number of incidents directed at them.
Pichai’s post follows on the heated defence of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who vowed to fight for Muslims.